Bullet core stripper machine



1943. R. F. TOWNS END BULLET CORE STRIPPER MACHINE Filed Dec. 14, 1942 N WE Inventor:

Patented Nov. 30, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BULLET CORE STRIPPER. MACHINE Ray F. Townsend, Altoona, Iowa Application December 14, 1942, Serial No. 469,039

2 Claims.

The invention relates to improvements in machines to facilitate the removal of jackets from the steel cores of armor piercing bullets for the purpose of salvaging the steel cores; and the objects of the improvements are, to simplify the construction of a core stripping machine, reduce the maintenance required to keep the machine in operation, and to increase the capacity of the machine.

One form of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is an elevation of the front of the machine with the feed chute removed. Figure 2 is a Vertical section through the center of the knife and parallel to the plane of the knife. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the bullet after it has passed through the machine.

The base and frame casting I provides the holder for the semi-circular knife 2, and bearings for the main shaft 3. Keyed to this main shaft is a, hardened, knurled roller 4, which is revolved by means of a drive such as the V pulley sheave 5. The knife is shaped and adjusted so that the clearance between the knife and roller gradually decreases from the diameter of the bullet jacket at one end of the knife, to the diameter of the core plus one wall thickness of the bullet jacket at the other end of the knife.

In operation, the bullets are fed sideways from a feed chute 6 in between the roller and the knife at the wide end of the knife and are rolled around the knife by the rolling action of the roller. As the bullet rolls across the blade, the clearance reduces, and the bullet jacket is gradually cut in two. Also due to the rolling action, the jacket is slightly stretched and expanded so that it is loose on the bullet core. After being cut, the two halves of the bullet jacket are very easily removed from the core by hand, rattling, magnetic separators, or by many other methods.

I am aware that prior to my invention, machines have been built to remove bullet jackets from the cores of armor piercing bullets, and that a roller and blade combination has been used for cutting tubes of various kinds. Therefore, I do not claim such a combination broadly; but

I claim:

1. The method of stretching a bullet jacket, or the loosening of a bullet jacket from its core by means of a machine having a rolling means acting on the surface of the bullet.

2. The method of loosening a bullet jacket and removing it from its core by means of rolling means acting on the surface of the bullet to loosen the jacket and to feed the bullet along stationary cutter means which thereby cuts through the jacket as the bullet is rolled therealong by the rolling means.

R. F. TOWNSEND. 

